Astrue Sides With Union

A press release from Social Security:

Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today announced that the agency is submitting legislation to Congress that would prohibit states, without the Commissioner’s prior authorization, from reducing the number of state personnel who make disability determinations for Social Security or the hours they work below the amount the agency authorizes.

“It is long past time that states end these unconscionable furloughs and hiring freezes that needlessly harm citizens with disabilities,” Commissioner Astrue said. “States realize no fiscal savings whatsoever from these actions and this legislation would prevent needless delays in the disability determination process. I am grateful for the President’s support and urge Congress to move quickly to help us make this provision the law of the land.”

More than a dozen states have implemented furloughs and hiring freezes that affect the federally paid state workers who make disability determinations for Social Security. The state agencies that employ these workers in their disability determination service (DDS) components receive 100 percent of their funding from the Federal government. Accordingly, states do not save any money by imposing furloughs and hiring freezes on federally funded employees. Rather, they slow benefits to some of the most vulnerable citizens – for example, furloughs in California in fiscal year 2010 delayed payment of over $11 million in benefits to more than 40,000 citizens with disabilities. State-imposed furloughs and hiring freezes also reduce state income tax revenue and increase unemployment in the state.

“The members of Local 1000 have always believed that furloughing federally funded positions doesn’t make economic sense and that has been proven in California during these past 18 months that Governor Schwarzenegger has imposed furloughs on state employees,” Yvonne Walker, President of Service Employees International Union Local 1000 said. “I applaud Social Security for initiating legislation that would prevent further bad economic policy from going forward. This provision will not only help DDS workers, but the claimants who rely on the services our members provide.”

“We commend the Commissioner for his forceful and dedicated leadership in taking this bold action,” said Susan X. Smith, President of the National Association of Disability Examiners (NADE). “Our members are witness to the impact the current economic recession has had for disabled citizens and we are working hard to meet the dramatic increase in claims for benefits. These furloughs further compound the problems faced by disabled citizens by creating unnecessary delays in the processing of their claims. NADE urges quick action with regards to this legislative proposal.”

Hearing On Board of Trustees Nominations

The Senate Finance Committee has scheduled a hearing for July 29 on the following nominations to Social Security's Board of Trustees:

• Charles P. Blahous III, a Republican who has Republican ideas for Social Security "reform"
  
• Robert D. Reischauer, a Democrat who accepts that Social Security needs "reform"
  

OIG Report On Hearing Backlog Reduction

Senator Claire McCaskill asked Social Security"s Office of Inspector General (OIG) whether Social Security's 2007 "Plan to Eliminate the Hearings Backlog and Prevent its Recurrence" would achieve its goal. OIG took almost a year in getting back to Senator McCaskill with the answer, "We believe SSA will be able to achieve its FY 2013 pending hearings backlog goal if the Agency has reliably projected hearing level receipts, ALJ availability levels, ALJ productivity levels, and senior attorney adjudicator decisions through 2013." The answer begs the question of whether Social Security has accurately predicted future receipts as well as future productivity. However, the signs so far are encouraging.

Proposed Procedural Regs

From today's Federal Register:

We propose to revise the procedures for how claimants who request hearings before administrative law judges (ALJs) may seek further review of their fully favorable revised determinations based on prehearing case reviews or fully favorable attorney advisor decisions. We also propose to notify claimants who receive partially favorable determinations based on prehearing case reviews that an ALJ will still hold a hearing unless all parties to the hearing tell us in writing that we should dismiss the hearing requests.

Wonder How This Story Got In The Times

From the New York Times:

Social Security is paying roughly $50 million a year too much to people who collect state pensions but fail to declare that income, according to the system’s inspector general.

The overpayments go to retirees who have held state jobs and also worked in the private sector — teachers who worked on their summer breaks, for instance, or police officers who retired young enough to form their own companies.

If the workers do not declare their state pension income, they appear to be low lifetime earners in the Social Security system. ...

“This is somebody else’s money they’re playing with,” said Andrew G. Biggs, a former deputy commissioner for Social Security, now an economist with the American Enterprise Institute. “The people who are in the Social Security system who don’t get good state pensions, this is taking money away from them.”

It is odd that I do not remember this report from Social Security's Office of Inspector General nor can I find it online. Was this leaked to Biggs before it was officially released? While not insignificant, in Social Security terms, this is small potatoes.

Some States Look To Social Security

From the New York Times:

Lawmakers in Maine have found an unusual tool for tackling their state’s pension woes: Social Security.

Just as workers in the private sector participate in Social Security in addition to any pension plan at their companies, most states put their workers in the federal program along with providing a state pension.

Maine and a handful of others, however, have long been holdouts, relying solely on their state pension plans. In addition, most states have excluded some workers ...

Now, Maine legislators have prepared a detailed plan for shifting state employees into Social Security and are considering whether to adopt it. They acknowledge it will not solve their problem in the short term but see long-term advantages.

Some variation on this idea could ultimately appeal to other states grappling with their own exploding pension costs and, in extreme cases, quietly looking for help from Washington. ...

The Attacks Work

From USA Today:

USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds that a majority of retirees say they expect their current benefits to be cut, a dramatic increase in the number holding that view. And a record six of 10 non-retirees predict Social Security won’t be able to pay them benefits when they stop working.

Skepticism is highest among youngest workers: Three-fourths of those 18 to 34 don’t expect to get a Social Security check when they retire. ...

The downbeat outlook reflects “all the attacks on Social Security that we have this total crisis in the program,” says Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. What’s more, she says, “the fear and distrust as a result of the financial collapse and the Great Recession has spilled over into people’s expectations generally, that you can’t count on anything.”

Union Newsletter

Council 220 of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the union that represents most Social Security employees, has posted its newsletter for July. The newsletter includes an article complaining that Social Security did not do enough to commemorate the 15 year anniversary of the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, a bombing that killed many Social Security employees.